Nonexistent Normality
by dawning horizons
Summary: The Curtis brothers have never had it easy, but their lives just got a whole lot harder. It all starts with Darry losing his job two days before the social worker shows up. Soon enough, Darry’s problem has become the entire gang’s problem.
1. Chapter 1 (10-07 18:50:28)

"Curtis, I need to talk to you."

Darry peered over the edge of the roof that he was working on - it was a house just across the street from Mr. Clemens's main office, and Darry suspected that he was doing one of his Soc acquaintances a favor - and was met with the sight of that said boss, Mr. Clemens. He didn't know what Mr. Clemens had to say that couldn't wait ten more minutes until the workday was done, but he called back down, "Alright. I'm coming down, sir."

One of Darry's coworkers, Sean, looked up just as Darry was about to make his way down the ladder. "I'll hope he doesn't lecture you for an two hours about parking your truck in the wrong spot again, man," he joked.

Darry gave him a good-natured smile and replied, "That was _one_ time, Sean, and almost six months ago!" before he carefully worked his way down the ladder. Mr. Clemens stood at the bottom and turned around, saying, "Follow me, Mr. Curtis."

Darry did so silently, and he found himself being led into his boss's office.

"Take a seat," Mr. Clemens instructed him monotonely once they were inside, sitting behind the desk and folding his hands on top of it.

"Yessir," Darry instantly replied, sitting down opposite of Mr. Clemens. "Is there something you wanted, sir?"

"Not that I wanted, Mr. Curtis, but something that is necessary. I'm going to have to let you go," Mr. Clemens said bluntly. Darry stilled, speechless, and slowly comprehended what his boss meant.

"You mean you're firing me?" he asked in shock, hardly able to believe what Mr. Clemens had just said.

"Unfortunately, yes. I found another guy who has more experience than you and-"

"And I was the obvious one to let go because I'm a Greaser?" Darry interrupted angrily. "I told you about my brothers, sir, and they're gonna get taken away if I don't have a way to make money!" he exclaimed, feeling betrayed. He'd thought that Mr. Clemens may be the only Soc on Earth who sympathized with Greasers sometimes, but clearly, that was not the case. At least Mr. Clemens had started to look a little uncomfortable.

"Look, kid. I don't have to explain all my reasons for letting you go. Just know that I have them and that's it. Now, here's your paycheck," he said roughly, placing an envelope in front of Darry.

Darry, deciding to let the 'kid' comment slide as there were much more important matters to be dealt with, tried to convince Mr. Clemens not to do this one last time.

"Sir, Mr. Clemens, I think I'm a decent worker. I always show up on time and I always work my hardest. Can't you just keep me? I don't have any other skills, and I don't know how long it'd take me to find another job. You've met my brothers, Soda and Pony, before. Do you want them to be sent away to who-knows-where?" Darry tried.

Mr. Clemens, however, did not budge.

"Mr. Curtis, I cannot keep you here. Have a good day," he said dismissively, standing up and leaving the room, letting the door shut behind him. Darry stared at the closed door and let it all sink in. He didn't have a job now. They were already behind on the bills, and his only real talent was roofing. It would take a while to get a new job, and he didn't even know who was hiring.

"Shit," he cursed, letting his head drop into his hands. He didn't curse a lot, but this was an occasion that he felt he had the right to curse in. _What will I tell Soda and Pony and the gang? The state is coming to check up on us in two fucking days, and the social worker will find out that I was fired._

Darry decided to focus on not having a mental breakdown, and he quickly shoved the door open and made his way to his truck. Instead of going home, he made the decision to go ask around town to see who was hiring; maybe if he could get another job before the social worker arrived, the state wouldn't think anything of it.

Shoot, who was he kidding? Finding a job in two days? He'd had to search for over two weeks to land this roofing job.

Pushing the negative thoughts aside, Darry climbed into his truck and drove out of the construction site.

Meanwhile, both Pony and Soda were already home, hanging out with the rest of the gang. The TV was turned on and Mickey was on, but no one was really watching it. It was one of those rare nights where everyone was actually together at once, so Darry's absence became even more noticeable. Darry tended to come straight home when work was done since he was always exhausted, and he'd been doing so even more lately. He'd been working longer hours this week. For this reason, Pony nudged Soda and asked, "You know where Darry is?"

Soda, who had been in the middle of a card game, stopped playing even though it was his turn and turned to Pony. "He's probably just getting groceries or something. I wouldn't worry."

Pony shrugged, ignoring Steve's complaint of, "C'mon Soda, focus!"

"He always does that on Saturday nights. Today's Friday. He's never ever not been back by now on a Friday," Pony pointed out worriedly. He felt Johnny put a hand on his shoulder as a soothing gesture. Soda still didn't seem the least bit concerned.

"I don't think it's anything you should be concerned about, Pone. Maybe he's found a girl or something and is _finally_ going on a date!" Soda said teasingly, turning his attention back to the game. Two-Bit laughed at what Soda said.

"Superman? A date? That'll be something to see," he said with a grin, slamming a card down with more force than necessary.

Pony didn't have any interest in their conversation once it changed to who the best-looking broads in town were, and so he struck up his own conversation with Johnny, who was the only other one not playing cards with Soda, Steve, Dally, and Two-Bit.

"What do you think about where Dar is, Johnny?" he asked his best friend.

"I honestly don't know, Pony, but if you're worried about him being in trouble or something, don't be. You know he can hold his own just fine."

That didn't make Pony worry any less. The range of possibilities of what could have happened to Darry seemed endless and just kept expanding. It wasn't like Pony was trying to overreact, but he was well aware that the state was sending the social worker over in two days, and now was not a good time for Darry to change things up, wherever he was.

An hour had gone by and Pony was just about to pester Soda again - he'd asked Soda when they should go look for Darry about six times by now - when the door opened, and there was Darry.

"Darry! You're back! Where-"

"Not now, Ponyboy," Darry interrupted, sounding completely worn-out. He didn't return the greetings or exclamations of "Yeah where have you been?" of the rest of the gang, either, and instead headed straight to his room. The quiet shutting of the door seemed to echo through the now-silent house. Soda gave Pony a look and said, "I'll go see what's bothering him. He probably just had a hard day at work."

Pony stood up. "I'll come. I told you something was probably wrong!" he said in an accusatory tone.

Soda smiled apologetically at him. "I know, I know. Now let's go," he said, disappearing into the hall with Darry's bedroom.

 **I haven't forgotten about my other stories, and this is the last new one for a while until I put more chapters up of the others! My apologies if you've been waiting for an update on those. I'm mid-way through a chapter or two of my other stories, and thank you for reading!! I've been super excited to write something like this for a while and I can't wait for y'all to see the next chapter of this ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**First, let me explain my absence! I've gotten super busy, so I never know nowadays when I'll have time to write. Please don't feel like Ive abandoned my stories, though! Updates will come (although a bit randomly)! Second, this is a short chapter but I just wanted to get _something_ up. Enjoy and, as always, reviews are lovely! :)**

Soda tentatively knocked on Darry's door and said, "Darry? It's Soda and Pony. Can we talk to you?"

Pony quickly added, "Just for a minute. I know you must be pretty tired."

There was no response.

Soda decided to try again. "Please? Did something happen?" he tried, growing increasingly worried with every second of silence that passed.

Still nothing.

It was obvious that the rest of the gang was listening because there was not a single solitary sound coming from the living room. Soda and Pony, however, didn't really care if they heard or not right now. It wasn't like they wouldn't end up just telling everyone later anyway.

"Drop it, you two. I'm not in the mood," Darry suddenly said, his voice dripping with irritation and anxiousness.

Soda and Pony shared a look, and Pony, taking the initiative to knock again, hurriedly replied, "C'mon and open up! We're worried! Besides, you always make us tell you whatever's bothering us, so why can't we do the same for you?"

No response again.

"Darry-"

"Alright, alright!" Darry snapped. The click of the door being unlocked was a good sound at that moment, and the two younger Curtis brothers slipped into the room, shutting the door behind them gently.

Darry was sitting on his bed with his back against the headboard and staring straight ahead. He still hadn't changed out of his work clothes.

Soda chose to sit directly in front of Darry and only moved over slightly so that Pony could sit beside him.

"So," Soda began, "What's up? Rough day at work?"

"Maybe," Darry responded vaguely. He was seriously debating whether or not to tell them what had happened. On one hand, he thought they should know, but on another, he didn't want their opinions of him to change; surely they wouldn't see him as Superman if he couldn't even keep a roofing job. In all honesty, he was worried about what they would think of him.

Besides, were there any advantages to telling the two other than the fact that they'd just be aware? Darry certainly couldn't think of any.

Soda, however, wasn't having it

"You know, Darry, now you're making me think it's a big deal because you won't just tell me and Pony. If you want to make me not worry now then you should tell me what's up!"

"You don't need to know!" Darry said, glaring at Soda. His sudden change of temper surprised his two brothers.

"Soda was just asking. You don't have to be rude," Pony added unhelpfully.

"I'm not being rude, Ponyboy," Darry snapped icily. He knew it wasn't mature of him, but, if he was being honest, he needed someone to take his anger and worry out on and they just happened to be there. He wasn't trying to be mean to them on purpose.

"Actually-"

"Stop, Pony," Soda intervened. This earned him a glare. Pony felt rather betrayed.

Soda, however, didn't want to upset Darry any further and he'd been around Darry enough that he knew something was off. Darry did talk to Soda a lot about a lot of things - things that neither had ever spoken a word about to Pony. Sometimes Soda didn't really understand how Pony couldn't tell when to just drop things with all the observing his little brother did on a daily basis.

"So you're on his side now?" Pony argued.

"I'm not on anyone's _side_ ," Soda hissed, losing his patience. "And you can't always expect me to agree with you!"

"You never agree with me!" Pony said back in an angry tone of voice.

"I agree with you plenty! This isn't even about me. You always have to drag me into everything!"

"I do not!" Pony yelled back.

"You do!"

"Do not!"

"Can both of you shut up!" Darry shouted over their yelling. His head had started to hurt and their bickering was making it worse. Pony wordlessly marched over to the door, yanked it open, slammed it shut, and walked out. Less than ten seconds later, the loud slam of his own door resonated throughout the house.

"I'm going out," Soda abruptly said to Darry, leaving the room and shutting the door with barely a sound.

"Hey!" Darry called, jumping out of bed and following him into the hall. "Out where?"

"Out!" Soda bit back harshly, storming past the gang in the living room. Darry, not in the mood to chase Soda around, hurriedly retreated back to his own room so he wouldn't have to deal with the gang.

Steve was the first to comment.

"I don't know what the fuck just happened, but I'm going after Soda."

When he was got a few murmurs of acknowledgement, he headed off. Now, he had no clue what was going on, but he knew that it was odd for all three Curtis brothers to be mad at each other at the exact same time. Pony's and Darry's fights weren't exactly rare, but Soda walking out like that wasn't something he'd ever seen.

It was a pleasant thing to discover that Darry's truck was still in the driveway. Soda hadn't driven anywhere, so he couldn't have gotten too terribly far in two minutes. In fact, Steve saw a figure making its way down the block at a fast pace and instantly knew it was Soda; he shouted, "Soda! Sodapop!" before starting to run after his best friend.

Soda also started running and Steve wanted to roll his eyes at the absurdity of it all. It was like they were three years old with all this running and chasing.

Fortunately, Steve had never been a bad runner, and Soda seemed to remember this because he quickly slowed again and turned to face Steve, who halted a few feet away.

"Why'd you follow me?" Soda immediately asked, partially out of breath.

"Cause," Steve said, also a little breathless, "Why wouldn't I?"

Soda shrugged dismally and shifted uncomfortably. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Of what?" Steve asked innocently.

"You know what!" Soda responded. It was so obvious that Steve was just playing dumb.

"Oooooh, that!" Steve said suddenly, acting like it had just clicked. "I mean, not too much?" he lied and then conceded. "I guess a lot."

"Great," Soda said sarcastically. "The others, too?"

"Yeah," Steve admitted. "But we all really just want to make sure you're all okay."

"Well, we aren't!" Soda exclaimed. "Pony had to go stirring things up and Darry was clearly feeling off and things just got out of hand and I don't even know what happened," Soda confessed, tears of frustration welling up in his eyes.

Steve, shocked at how worked up Soda was getting, quickly put an arm around Soda's shoulders and started guiding him back home.

"Take it easy, buddy. You guys have fought before. It'll blow over and everything will be back to normal soon."

Steve didn't know just how wrong he was about to be proven.


	3. Chapter 3

**It's here and it's _back_ so get hype, y'all! I didn't die, woooo! Anyway, obviously you can tell this is a shorter chapter, but I'm not planning on making any of the next ones as short as this. Read on!**

Ponyboy hadn't been walking long before he began to regret saying all those things to Soda and Darry. He knew they both tried their hardest to be there for him at all times.

Perhaps he should just head back and apologize; besides, even he could realize now that he'd overreacted before.

He quickly turned on his heel and started the walk home. Would they both be upset with him? He sure hoped not.

It was then that Pony realized he still hadn't gotten down to the bottom of what was bothering Darry, and his guilt almost tripled. Darry had seemed close to telling him and Soda what was going on, but now, Pony wouldn't be surprised if Darry chose not to speak to him for the rest of the day.

It was a silent walk home. Not a single car passed him on the road.

Pushing their door open without bothering to knock, Pony nearly ran straight into Johnny, who took a step back, startled.

"Ponyboy! Hey! I was just going to come looking for you with Dally, but since you're back, Soda's in Darry's room if you want to join them."

"Okay," Pony responded, nodding to Johnny and slipping hurriedly by the rest of the gang to return to Darry's room. He knocked tentatively three times before entering.

Soda's gaze was immediately on him and Soda reached out a hand to beckon him over.

"C'mon, Pony. Sit," Soda said to him gently.

Soda was sitting cross-legged on Darry's bed in the same position he'd been in prior to leaving, and it made Pony feel almost like the last thirty minutes hadn't even happened. Pony took a seat right next to Soda and looked up at Darry anxiously.

"I'm sorry for getting upset."

"Don't be," Darry simply said with a slight shrug.

"Okay."

No one spoke again for a couple of beats until Pony started, "So...what's going on, Dar?"

He didn't miss the glance the Soda shot Darry. It was like Soda already knew.

Did he?

"Soda? What's going on?" Pony repeated.

Soda ran his hand through his hair - an old habit of his whenever he was nervous - and then propped his head up in his hand with his elbow resting on his leg.

"Darry ain't got a job no more."

Ponyboy stared at Soda. Was this some kind of joke? It wasn't a very funny one at all.

"Fired, you mean? You're kidding!" Pony responded, shocked.

"He isn't kidding," Darry interrupted. "I was lucky to be kept on with that job for how long I was. This town doesn't like Greasers working jobs that Socs could be working."

Darry didn't sound as angry as Pony would have expected. Disappointed, maybe, and absolutely tired.

"How could your boss do that to you? Remember all those days you went in even when you were sick? And when you had a job to get done, you were the one who stayed longer to complete it! This is ridiculous!" Pony growled unhappily.

Darry dropped his face into his hands. He was slumped over and looked almost defeated - something that Pony wouldn't have dreamed in a million years to ever describe Darry as.

"I have to get another job by the time the social worker shows up. She'll take you two away in an instant if she catches wind of this whole thing."

Pony hadn't even remembered that one of the conditions of Darry remaining their guardian was that he had to have a job, and the knowledge hit him like a ton of bricks. He could sense his anxiety bubbling to the surface at a mile a minute.

"I don't want to be sent away! I'll help you search for a job, Dar, I'll get you one. Let's go out right now and ask around. Two-Bit's mother works in that bar down town. Maybe she could set up something temporary!"

"I can talk to Goody!" Soda added. "If I explain the situation, I'm sure he'll let you work at the DX until you can get something else sorted out. There's plenty of options."

Darry smiled a little at the two of them.

"Thanks, guys. I'll go ask Two-Bit about your idea, Pone, right now, and Soda, talking to Goody is a cool idea too."

With that, Darry swung his legs over the side of the bed and headed out into the hallway. Soda and Pony followed closely behind him.

No one had gone home yet, but someone had turned on the TV while Soda, Pony, and Darry were talking. It was switched off the second Two-Bit noticed that the three had returned.

"News?" Dally prompted.

"My boss decided to fire me," Darry said bluntly. He didn't see any reason to beat around the bush on this particular subject any longer; it was either he told them now or he told them later, and in his opinion, sooner was always better. Besides, he needed their help now, not in a couple of days.

Two-Bit looked almost disbelieving. His expression reminded Darry of Pony's own no more than a three minutes ago.

"That son of a bitch!" Dally cursed. "He has no right!"

"No right at all!" Two-Bit agreed heatedly. "Why'd he go and do that?"

Darry shrugged dejectedly.

"I don't know. I think it has something to do with some Soc trying to get a job there, and I guess I was the obvious choice to let go."

Disgust was apparent in the expression of every single boy in that room. It was no secret that the whole of Tulsa seemed to favor Socs over Greasers, and since the Socs were the only ones able to get positions of power, it was a losing battle to go up against one of them regardless of how unfairly they acted.

Soda looked in Steve's direction and caught his eye before declaring, "I was gonna see about Goody hiring him temporarily until he can get something better set up. You know how it is with the social worker coming and all."

Steve immediately nodded vigorously.

"Let's hurry up with it, then. He stays late some days, d'you want to see about talking to him right now?"

"Why wouldn't I? Darry? Are you in?"

"Absolutely," Darry agreed.

 **That's a wrap for Chapter 3! Let me know what you guys like and want to see by reviewing; that's the only way I can get your feedback and help you enjoy the story more!! Regardless, this is about to be great because I'm excited to get back into the whole writing thing.**


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